FacebookBATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — On his first full day in office, Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards is expected to reverse course from his Republican predecessor and start the process of expanding Louisiana's Medicaid program.
The announcement is planned for Tuesday afternoon. It comes two days ahead of President Barack Obama's visit to Baton Rouge, where he'll champion his federal health care overhaul that allows for the Medicaid expansion.
Edwards has said he wants to have government-funded health insurance cards in more people's hands by July 1.
Louisiana would join 30 other states that have undertaken Medicaid expansions, including several states overseen by Republicans. But expansion efforts have been stymied in most Southern states amid GOP resistance.
It's unclear whether Louisiana's Republican-led Legislature will try to throw up roadblocks to slow down Edwards' expansion plans.